Sadly, all this was predicted back in '68.

Oh dear! I've warned about all this in the past, and now coming South of The Channel, it's the main topic of conversation everywhere.

If 'middle-of-the-road' political parties don't deal with important national problems as they arise, along will come a bunch of fanatics to sort out the problem for them.  

I am now seeing that this is the case across Europe, and probably further afield; and one hears far more about it on this side of the channel, than one does in Blighty. 

The last thing we need are far right, or far left parties gaining power. Sadly it does now look as if this could happen. It's already happened in Holland with Geert Wilders, and it could very easily happen in Sweden (where it is said that there are 62,000 immigrants in Mafia style gangs), Germany, France (above), Spain, Italy, and Greece. 

And now it has happened in the recent EU elections. It really has become very serious.

We all know what people are worried about, but their concerns have come far too late. One minute the dungaree-wearing lovies were all welcoming illegal immigrants with open arms, but now that they have realised their huge mistake, they've become rather quiet.

No, it wasn't Nostradamus, but Enoch Powell who possibly over-egged his warnings back in 1968 when the UK's net-immigration was still only 5,000 pa (last year net-immigration was 685,000), but the reality has far overtaken his original concerns. Back in '68 people thought Powell was a nasty racist; even though a poll at the time suggested that 74% of the British public agreed with him. Now we all accept that he massively-under-estimated what has become a genuine problem.

There is mounting trouble everywhere. People are dissatisfied and angry, and they want to take back control of their countries. Possibly the biggest subject at the current UK Hustings, is that of immigration.

In France the extremists are creeping ever closer to defeating Macron. With the state of French society being as it is, they're bound to increase their popularity. Marine Le Pen and her radical right wing party are making huge strides. A lot of my farming neighbours, who are not at all political fanatics, see her as France's only hope.

What they imagine they could do to stem the problems, I have no idea. They might be able to control future immigration, but they can't reduce the problems that already exist. Once immigrants have settled, have children at school, and are claiming benefits, there is very little one can legally do to remove them. 

I, like so many others, have given-up trying to figure a way out. The world has already changed, and as one of Powell's constituents feared back in '68, "in 15 to 20 years time immigrants will have the upper hand"; actually, after 50 years, they now have.

If  anyone is interested in reading Powell's ACTUAL speech, and not the mischievously interpreted versions, you can read it in full here. enoch-powell_speech.pdf (wordpress.com) (it's quite long)

In his speech Powell made reference to Virgil's Aeneid, with 'The river Tiber foaming with much blood'. It was this short reference that caused him so much trouble. I don't think even Powell himself could ever have dreamt how serious the situation would have become after the subsequent 56 years. Knife and Machete killings, as well as shootings, have become almost a daily event in London and elsewhere; it's a sorry state. 

Anyone who was incensed by Powell's speech back in 1968 should take a long look at how his predictions developed!